Heather Bartlett

Miso Glazed Salmon

January 17, 2019January 17, 2019 Heather Bartlett

We get our seafood from Sitka Salmon Shares. It is a CSA for seafood that is available in the Midwest. This company uses sustainable practices and is environmentally friendly. Once a month from May to December we get a box of really good seafood. This year we received salmon, cod, bass, tuna and prawns. We eat it once a week and I think we might have enough left to get us through March. We will be signing up again this year.

Tonight I made Miso Glazed Salmon with rice and sugar snap peas on the side.

Miso Glazed Salmon

1 lb salmon

1/4 cup miso

2 tbsp brown sugar

3 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Mix miso, sugar vinegar and water. When oven is 500 degrees, turn the oven down to 200, put the glaze on the salmon and bake.

I cook my seafood in a high temperature oven and then turn down and let the heat cook the fish slowly. It take about 30 minutes, but the fish always turns out perfectly and not overcooked.

miso salmon

Household

Glass Cleaner

January 16, 2019 Heather Bartlett

cleaning supplies

I make a lot of my own cleaning supplies. Saving money is a big reason why I choose to make my own. But, an even bigger reason is our health. So many store-bought cleaning supplies are filled with toxic chemicals that I personally don’t believe are good for the health of my family. For this reason, we go the homemade route as much as possible. It also means we put less plastic into our ecosystem, which is obviously better for all of us.

This recipe is for the window cleaner we use. It costs pennies to make and smells great. Quick side note, that bottle of Dr. Bronner’s is 18 years old. We have been recycling it since the year 2001. We buy it by the gallon and continue to refill that bottle. In 18 years, we have only purchased 3 gallons.

Glass Cleaner

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon castile soap (we use Dr. Bronner’s)

2 cups water

4 drops lavender essential oil

4 drops lemon essential oil

The directions are pretty straightforward. Add all ingredients to a bottle and mix.

You can use any essential oil of your choice. I just prefer the lemon lavender mix.

Happy Cleaning!

Recipes

Baked Creamy Polenta

January 14, 2019 Heather Bartlett

I have added a new side dish to my dinner rotation. Baked Creamy Polenta. I purchase the polenta in bulk at my local health food store. It has always been a favorite of mine, but it always seemed daunting cook from scratch. When I made it, I used the premade polenta in the tubes, that always has the texture of rubber. This recipe is a winner and very easy to make.

Baked Creamy Polenta

6 cups water

1 1/2 cups slow cooking polenta

1/4 cup butter (I use Kerrygold)

Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Bring 6 cups salted water to a boil.. Whisking constantly, slowly add the polenta and reduce heat to medium-low. Whisk often, until polenta is tender. If the polenta becomes thick too soon, add more water and continue cooking. Add butter and ½ cup Parmesan to polenta and stir.

Add to baking dish, cover with additional parmesan cheese and bake in 350 degree of 20 minutes.

baked creamy polenta

Uncategorized

My Birthday Girl

January 11, 2019 Heather Bartlett

Today I spent the day with my middle child, Hannah, to celebrate her 20th birthday. Her actual birthday is on Sunday, but we wanted to take a day for manicures, lunch and shopping.

Hannah has had a tough year. In April she was diagnosed with Grave’s disease. The last 9 months were filled with doctors appointments, labs and experimenting with a wide array of prescriptions and doses. She was a trooper, rarely complained and completed 2 successful semesters in college while feeling pretty crappy. In all honesty, she dealt with the situation much better than I did. As a parent, it is so hard to see your child struggle. Her symptoms seemed to come out of nowhere. It started with the a phone call from her at school saying “I need to go to the ER” and ending with a life changing diagnosis.

Because her heart symptoms were severe, she underwent radioactive iodine on January 2 to “kill” her thyroid. Once she enters hypothyroidism, which will be a life long diagnosis, she will go on Synthroid. It sounds extreme, but in her case, it was the only choice. The radioactive iodine lead to 5 days of isolation because she was literally radioactive. Since the thyroid absorbs the radiation, for her to be around other people would have put their thyroid at risk. Again, she dealt with it like a trooper, rarely complained and just asked for food on a very regular basis! To prepare for the treatment, she had to eat a low iodine diet for 3 weeks which eliminated cheese from her diet. As a Wisconsin girl, cheese is very important.

She was released from isolation earlier this week. She spent her time packing up to go back to college, spending time with her boyfriend and spending time with us. We ended the week by celebrating her birthday, which felt like a perfect reward for enduring a long 9 months.

hannah birthday

My girl enjoying a birthday cake.

Uncategorized

Moving Forward

January 10, 2019January 10, 2019 Heather Bartlett

I am in a lot of Facebook groups that focus on frugal living, non consumerism, hygge and housekeeping. Since January 1, it seems like the main topic of conversation in all of those groups is the Netflix show about organizing your life and getting rid of your stuff. I feel like the only person on the planet who has not watched it yet. I refuse to watch it at this point out of principle. I have enough guilt, I don’t need somebody telling me that getting rid all of my stuff will make me happy, I am very happy as it is. As with all things in life, moderation is key, even minimalism. It feels like another trend that will lose its steam and something else will take it’s place.

Instead, I am choosing to just let life lead me where it will. Keeping my to do list short and attainable and allowing myself to savor the season of winter with its promise of coziness and warmth. It’s a cold night out there tonight and I plan on ending this day, in my unorganized room, reading a book. Tomorrow is always another day.

Recipes

Meatballs and Mushroom Gravy Over Cauliflower Rice

January 9, 2019January 9, 2019 Heather Bartlett

Tonight I scrapped my meal plan of homemade macaroni and cheese and decided on Meatballs instead. It turned out really good and is adapted from a number of recipes I found online.

I used cauliflower rice and turkey meatballs that I had in the freezer (both from Costco).

Meatballs and Mushroom Gravy Over Cauliflower Rice

2 tbsp butter

16 oz white mushrooms

1/4 cup flour

1 quart vegetable broth (I used Penzey’s vegetable base)

8 oz frozen spinach

Premade meatballs

1 lb Frozen Cauliflower Rice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Melt butter in skillet, add mushrooms and saute for 5-6 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling add flour and whisk until smooth and thickened. Add frozen meatballs and spinach. Serve on cauliflower rice (or regular rice if you prefer).

Since there was an abundance of vegetables in this dish, we had a fruit salad on the side.

meatballs and fruit

Homesteading, Recipes

White Bread Recipe For Bread Machine

January 8, 2019January 8, 2019 Heather Bartlett

We make our own bread in a bread machine that we have had for 22 years. No plastic bags, no additives and it saves us money. Plus, it just tastes better. The recipe below is our recipe for basic white sandwich bread.

Basic White Bread Recipe

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons of water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons sugar

3 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

How to make bread in a bread machine:

Add water and oil into the bread pan. Add salt, sugar. Add flour.
Make a small well on top of flour and make sure it does not reach wet ingredients. Add the gluten and yeast to the well.
Use Basic bread, 1.5 lb loaf, medium crust cycle (3 hrs 10 minutes)

Uncategorized

My 5 Favorite Books of 2018

January 7, 2019January 7, 2019 Heather Bartlett

I read 80 books in 2018. Some were great, some terrible, but most were actually good. I have compiled a list of my 5 favorites.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin: This one is my top pick for the year. I had the privilege to meet the author at a Jodi Picoult event in October. The story asks the question, do you have control over your future, or is it predetermined? I feel pretty confident that we will be seeing more books from this Wisconsin author in the future.
Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur: Three generations of women tell their story in rural Vermont. The story begins when Vale returns to her home after Tropical Storm Irene to search for her mother.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh: A woman who decides to spend a year sleeping in 2000. Actually a very sad story about a woman who needs to escape her depression.
The Boy At The Door by Alex Dahl: This book from Norway tells the story of a mysterious boy who turns up in a small Norway town and the woman who takes him in. I love books from Scandinavia, they have an eeriness to them that I don’t find in American books.
Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer: This one is just for fun. Imagine Barack Obama and Joe Biden as super sleuths in Washington D.C. and the surrounding area. I laughed a lot and felt an odd comfort reading about them as a team again.

30288282 34950830 36203391

Recipes

Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

January 6, 2019January 5, 2019 Heather Bartlett

brussel sprouts and bacon I know that the picture above is not the best looking food picture ever, but don’t let that dissuade you from trying my brussels sprouts. We were almost done with dinner and when I thought to take a picture, so this is what was left. As a general rule Brussels sprouts are healthy, these are probably not real great for the heart, but boy are they good.

When I was a kid, I hated these vegetables more than any other. I avoided them like the plague and allowed myself to avoid them until recently. My kids and I were at a restaurant for dinner and these were on the menu. The bacon and blue cheese convinced me that they would be safe to try. I am officially converted, however toxic the recipe may be.

Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

1 pound brussels sprouts

1 pound bacon

blue cheese

The instructions are easy. Cut up the bacon and fry it. Once cooked drain most of the fat. Add the shredded brussels sprouts and fry in the bacon until crispy. Add blue cheese to taste.

We ate these with salmon and quinoa in an effort to cancel out the bad fat.

Homesteading

So Many Eggs

January 5, 2019 Heather Bartlett

eggs

Our chickens are having a very prolific first winter. We are getting several eggs every week, which we are so grateful for. It has been several weeks since I needed to purchase additional eggs from the grocery store. For years, I purchased brown eggs because I liked the color. Our chickens are laying every color of the rainbow it seems. It is hard to believe the shades of blues and tans that they are laying. So beautiful.

This morning I hard boiled 6 eggs and made deviled eggs out of them. I don’t know if they actually taste better than what I can get at the store, or if it is my imagination. Either way, they are a true gift.

It is at least 40 degrees in Wisconsin today, so the chickens are wandering around the yard looking for scraps to eat. I am confident that they appreciate the exercise and sunshine as much as any of us would. Honestly, they are more trustworthy than dogs. If I let my dogs out to wander, I would never see them again. But those 4 girls are reliable and stay in our yard.

Eric also checked out the hives today, since the weather is cooperating. He said all 4 hives remain active and he is optimistic that they will survive the winter. Only a couple more months and we can venture back into the yard and enjoy the warm weather.